Love or Hate: What's the Difference?
by Firemoon
Summary: 6! Ryss made Raven drink a potion which makes Raven to stay near Van Flyheight, or else he is in grave danger. Raven X Van future Shounen-ai. Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1: Day minus 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own then, although I wish I did.. then I would kill first Van, Hiltz, and Fiona and make RAVEN the RULER OF THE PLANET ZI!!!!!!!!!!! WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-!!!!!!!!!!!! *sigh* this is why they will not let me eat chocolate sometimes¡¦

**WARNING:** THIS IS SLASH/SHOUNEN-AI. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ IT, CLICK THE BACKWARDS ARROW ON THE TOP LEFT HAND CORNER. THIS IS THE LAST WARNING. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

**Love or Hate: What is the Difference?**

**Chapter 1: Day –1 [minus or negative one]**

**-by Firemoon**

¡°Ra-ven-¡±

¡°Gods, what?¡±

Raven¡¯s irritated voice came from behind the piece of zoid part he was trying to fix. He had taken off his gloves, but the black smudges of oil had covered the scars on his palm. Shadow looked at Ryss questioningly before handing Raven the spanner. Ryss crossed her arms, huffing and looking totally pissed off.

¡°Raven, look at me when I talk to you!¡±

Raven sighed, and, spanner still in his hand, raised his head from behind the part. He simply raised a single dark eyebrow.

¡°Yes?¡±

¡°Well, seeing as it is weekend, I thought that we could go out and have some fun..?¡±

She trailed off as she saw Raven¡¯s expression, and quickly made it into a question, not a statement. A good deal of scorn and cruel amusement flashed through Raven¡¯s violet eyes, and his gray head again disappeared behind the zoid part he was fixing. His voice, slightly muffled, came out from behind it.

¡°No.¡±

¡°But-¡°

¡°I said NO, Ryss. I¡¯ve got more important things to do than ¡®going outside and having some fun¡¯ with a hideous psychotic obsessed bitch like you.¡±

Shadow looked at her a moment longer than he should with his sapphire eyes then turned away towards his master. Ryss turned away and left the hangar, ignoring the low chuckle from Raven and the tears that were now blinding her.

----------

That evening, Ryss made a decision. 

A plan. A dangerous plan, but still effective. 

She hummed silently to herself as she prepared the ¡®special¡¯ stew for Raven. She would leave it on the fire, and go to her room. If Raven comes in, he is bound to eat it. No suspicion of poisoning, for she would leave an empty bowl, wet and obviously freshly washed, on the sink, along with a spoon. Raven would still be gloating over his spiteful comment made on her, and probably wouldn¡¯t give a damn about her for the rest of the day. And¡¦ _it_ would work.

She was sure of that.

----------

¡°Raven?¡±

Ryss called as sweetly as she could, flopping down into an armchair in front of him who was sitting on a matching couch. He looked a bit paler than usual, and she grinned inwardly to herself. He snarled.

¡°You. What did you put in that thing?¡±

¡°Oh, nothing. Just to test who you really have a strong emotional link to.¡±

¡°WHAT?¡±

She was satisfied to see a horrified expression come over his features. She leant back, leisurely.

¡°You have until tomorrow evening to find her.. or him,¡±

She grinned wickedly, her green eyes dancing with mischievous light.

¡°Of course, it wouldn¡¯t work if you didn¡¯t like anyone, but as seeing you pale and sick, I think the potion¡¯s taking effect, and therefore, you _do _really love or hate someone in an _extreme_ way, and he or she is, currently, alive.¡±

She softly added, and standing up, announced to the still sitting Raven.

¡°If you don¡¯t go to him or her by tomorrow nightfall, you¡¯ll surely die. From tomorrow noon the Craving would start. I don¡¯t know exactly what happens, but by the record, they suffer¡¦_a little_ breathing problem and extreme weakness.

¡°So if you want to live, go. Go now.¡±

She cheerfully waved back at Raven, his visage now mask of hate, horror, and shock, as she went out. She called out as she went into her room.

¡°Bye-bye, Raven, let¡¯s see you fly.¡±

----------

The red zoid – Genobreaker – ¡®s cockpit opened and Raven leant back in the seat, the breeze caressing his cheeks and hair. Then he gasped as he felt another invisible grip squeezing his lungs, and he nearly doubled over, gasping for breath. Shadow growled, and Raven managed to say between the gasps.

¡°Just¡¦shut- up¡¦Let¡¯s..go.¡±

He straightened up, hate burning in his eyes, as he looked back to the direction where Ryss was currently located, probably cackling with delight. He turned his eyes to the base, just before the horizon, and checked the sun for time. 2 hours before the sunset, give or take. The cockpit closed, and the zoid burst through the desert towards the base, where the one who could help Raven to live was situated. Raven snarled to himself as another wave of nausea hit him, making him feel dizzy and weak.

He can last for a couple more hours. He was _not _weak.

----------

Van Flyheight of the Guardian Force was currently being held by one named Irvine, who was looking very disapproving of the youth, proven with a glare of his lavender eye.

¡°I told you to clean out your goddamn zoid after the mission. Now look at it. Sand everywhere! I never saw a person who took care of their zoid like this.¡±

¡°Irvine! I came back at 2 o¡¯clock in the morning today and I woke up just an hour ago! Would you clean out your zoid in that situation?¡±

Irvine opened his mouth but whatever he was going to say was drowned by the alarm and the shouting of people.

¡°Hey, hey! What is it?¡±

¡°An unidentified zoid is approaching fast. The monitors are yet to identify the z¡¦¡±

The soldier¡¯s face fell as he brought the speaker close to his ear. Irvine snatched it from his hand and shouted into it.

¡°What is it?¡±

¡°¡¦a Genobreaker. Repeat, the zoid is a Genobreaker.¡±

Irvine swore violently, and turned to the dark-haired youth.

¡°Raven.¡±

----------

Raven swore as a few zoids came out from the base, aiming their ammo at him. He just _couldn¡¯t_ waste his time in _them_. And, his time was running out. Fast.

¡°Out of my way!¡±

Raven shouted as Shadow controlled the Genobreaker, leaping clear off the first two zoids and running headlong towards the base without even glancing at the others. Raven, with the corner of his eye, saw the sun beginning to drop back into behind the horizon, glinting sinister in red and bright orange. Raven then felt Shadow enveloping him into his cool metallic innards, and lost consciousness. His time was up.

----------

Van watched, fascinated, as the Genobreaker, its armour as red as the sun now setting, suddenly stopped and a blue light came shooting out of it. Maybe it¡¯s a diversion, he thought, and then corrected himself. No, it can¡¯t be. Raven¡¯s Genobreaker was one of the most powerful zoid, and he certainly would never abandon it to be mutilated. Then, van realized that the blue beam was coming right at him.

¡°AARGHHH!¡±

Irvine turned his head away just in time to see Shadow, Raven¡¯s black organoid, drop something heavy onto Van. It was hard to see because the sun had just set, and the organoid stepped between him and Van, blocking the view. But he could still hear Van¡¯s voice, and by it he certainly wasn¡¯t in danger. 

Dr. Di and Fiona appeared from between the gathered crowd, their concern deepening as they saw the organoid and the tip of Van¡¯s right boot showing between the organoid¡¯s legs and tail. Fiona called out.

¡°Van! Are you alright?¡±

The voice was slightly muffled, but nevertheless okay.

¡°I¡¯m OK, Fi. But I think Raven¡¯s hurt..¡±

¡°Raven?¡±

Soon, Van appeared from behind the black organoid, looking at it warily although it did not make any move to attack. Raven looked unconscious, his arms loosely around Van¡¯s shoulder, and Van looked decidedly uncomfortable with it. Irvine chuckled lightly to himself. It _was_ an amusing sight.

¡°He kinda passed out on me.¡±

¡°No blood? Anything?¡±

Dr. Di tried to take Raven away from Van and to the infirmary, but Shadow stepped between them, growling menacingly. Fiona tentatively stepped forward while others moved back, and asked softly.

¡°Why, Shadow? Is there a reason why you stopped Dr. Di?¡±

Shadow looked at her, almost analyzing her face with his sapphire eyes, and without a word opened his compartment. Fiona looked into its eyes, and felt, for a second, that Shadow wanted to explain the whole thing to her. She would be safe. She motioned towards Van and the others, smiling a little.

¡°It¡¯s alright. Shadow wants to explain everything to us, but since he can¡¯t talk...¡±

She stepped into the space without the cords wrapping around her. She understood that the organoids had the cords especially for their masters. She glanced at Van as the metal clanked shut.

----------

They waited anxiously for her reappearance, and when the finally impatient Thomas started threatening the organoid that he will ¡®make him into tiny fragments and melted¡¯, it opened and Fiona stumbled out.

¡°Miss Fiona! Are you alright?¡±

¡°I¡¯m fine, Thomas. Thank you.¡±

She left Thomas looking slightly more red and turned towards Dr. Di.

¡°It seems that Ryss pulled another prank on Raven again, but I think, this time, there is another who¡¯s deeply involved in this.¡±

¡°Who¡¦oh, I see.¡±

Fiona¡¯s scarlet gaze was resting upon Van, and her face was, for once, serious without any traces of pity or fear.

¡°Me?¡±

----------

¡°¡¦so Ryss mixed something – Shadow said that she said ¡®potion¡¯ – into his food and it sort of made him go to the person he most love or hate in the whole world. And it¡¯s you, Van.¡±

Van sat there, dumbfounded, with Raven sitting beside him, his gray head lightly resting upon Van¡¯s shoulder. He pointed at the general direction of the contact, and asked.

¡°Then why exactly does he have to be so¡¦_close_ to me? It¡¯s kind of disturbing, rather.¡±

Irvine chuckled, and Van glared at him until the bandana-ed man noticed.

¡°Er, sorry.¡±

¡°Shadow said that Ryss said he would suffer from some breathing problems and extreme weakness if he doesn¡¯t reach Van in time, but I¡¯m not exactly sure why Shadow stopped Dr. Di.¡±

¡°Perhaps the potion doesn¡¯t take effect when he is close to Van?¡±

¡°Can we try it out?¡±

¡°Isn¡¯t it dangerous for Raven? I mean, he¡¯s suffered _that _for 6 hours before he found Van.¡±

¡°And, will the or..er, Shadow let us?¡±

¡°Please, Shadow? We don¡¯t mean any harm to Raven. We just want to see.¡±

Shadow growled lightly and stepped back. They all sighed for relief, and Irvine and Dr. Di gently supported the gray haired youth while Fiona held a measuring rope, calling out the distance.

¡°Irvine, check his pulse to see whether he breathes difficultly. Call out stop when he does.¡±

¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡±

Fiona mock-huffed at Irvine¡¯s answer, and held out the beginning of the rope to Van.

¡°Hold it still. Don¡¯t move.¡±

They, with Raven, stepped a pace back from the couch where Van was sitting.

¡°30 cm-¡°

Another.

¡°60-¡°

This time, a little half a step.

¡°80-¡°

¡°Stop.¡±

Irvine quickly carried the youth back onto the couch, where he sighed contentedly and snuggled up against Van, who immediately became red from the base of the neck to the roots of his hair. Irvine watched the two, his eyes shining with suppressed laughter.

Oh, this could be _very_ interesting.

----------

**A/N:**

Firemoon: Hello!! *waves hand enthusiastically*

Raven: *unenthusiastically* Hey.

Van: Where¡¯s my papaya? *sees Zeke running away with it* HEY! GET BACK HERE!

Raven: Never mind about the goddamn papaya. *coyly* I guess that you just have to make do with me.

Van: *gulp* er, Raven? I think you¡¯re being influenced by the psychotic girl..

Raven: *blink blink* But I¡¯m n¡¦

Firemoon: Shut up, both of you! *cough cough* Ahem, er, this is really embarrassing¡¦ Raven! Get back here with Van RIGHT NOW!

Raven: But you said that I could do whatever I wanted with him! *grips Van¡¯s shoulders tighter*

Firemoon: Well¡¦ this is NOT so low a place! Now get back here and sit. *wipes her glasses on her t-shirt* But you can do whatever you want with him as soon as this fic is over. OK?

ENJOYED/HATED READING? THEN REVIEW! [FLAMES ACCEPTED]


	2. Chapter 2: A bed, a grandmother, and a g...

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter 1.

**WARNING:** THIS IS SLASH/SHOUNEN-AI. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ IT, CLICK THE BACKWARDS ARROW ON THE TOP LEFT HAND CORNER. THIS IS THE LAST WARNING. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

**Love or Hate: What is the Difference?**

**Chapter 2: A bed, a grandmother, and a group of mechanics**

**-by Firemoon**

Raven opened his eyes sleepily. The sun was shining outside, and he thought that it was around 9 o¡¯clock. _¡®Strange, that, Ryss would have been shouting her lungs off by now, standing outside my bedroom.¡¯_

But he buried his face into the soft pillow, and let out a contented sigh. He felt so sleepy.. just one more hour¡¦

He froze. Someone was _sleeping_ beside him. He just heard an unintelligent mumble, coming from somewhere beside him. He turned around-

¡¦And came face to face with Van Flyheight.

At first, he did not say anything. The shock was too great. 

_Van Flyheight?_

At that moment, Van¡¯s eyes opened. They just looked at each other for a full second before springing out of the bed to either side of it. 

Raven opened his mouth to say something spiteful as usual, but gasped and dropped to the carpeted floor as the potion¡¯s effect again took over him. Van, at last remembering, came hurrying over the bed and automatically wrapped his arms around Raven until his breathing became easier.

¡°You OK?¡±

Raven took a deep, shuddering breath. And Van let go of him, suddenly aware of the arms that were cradling Raven. Fortunately, Raven had not noticed it, and was looking around, studying the room. Van called out to him, trying desperately to hide the red tint on his cheeks.

¡°C¡¯mon, I have to hurry.¡±

¡°Where?¡±

¡°What? To breakfast, of course. They are going to close it in..half an hour.¡±

Raven stood up, and immediately a suitcase – it was his – came into view.

¡°Shadow brought it this morning. Zeke said Shadow said Ryss was looking really pissed off, but otherwise very well.¡±

¡°Who cares about that psychotic bitch?¡±

Raven snorted as he opened the suitcase and Van decided to make a helpful—but also VERY dangerous—comment about his clothes.

¡°Don¡¯t you wear anything else other than _black_?¡±

¡°Look, these are MY clothes, not yours.¡±

Van flushed red, and hastily turned around as Raven started to get changed. He didn¡¯t seem to notice that Van was in the same room as him, or he didn¡¯t care. He turned around again as Raven¡¯s voice was heard.

¡°So, am I stuck here with you for the rest of my life?¡±

¡°I¡¯m not sure, though I sure hope that you are not. Dr. Di might tell us something over breakfast.¡±

¡°Then let¡¯s go. I don¡¯t want to spend any more time than necessary inside this pathetic base.¡±

----------

¡°WHAT?¡±

Raven shouted, and both Dr. Di and Van cringed. Raven pointed a seemingly accusing finger at the dark-haired boy, his other hand a quivering fist by his side.

¡°You mean I can¡¯t get away from this Baka for at least _a month_?¡±

¡°Or _more_, I should expect. I don¡¯t exactly know what Ryss has put in that thing, and the first thing I have to do is get a sample of your blood – ¡°

¡°¡¦¡¦¡¦¡±

Raven did not say anything, but closed his eyes for a few seconds, obviously trying to calm himself down. There was simply no point in making the situation worse by getting locked up in a call with Van, although it seemed an interesting idea at the breakfast. Imagine them locking their own man up in a cell.

¡°Okay, so _all you need_ is a sample of my blood and time.¡±

¡°Yes. I must admit that we do _not_ appreciate you gracing our base with your company either. So I¡¯ll try my best to figure out and make the counter-potion as soon as I can.¡±

¡°Good.¡±

Raven called out his shoulder, Van trailing behind him. Dr. Di sighed, shaking his head. The boy was, indeed, _insufferable_. No wonder Ryss thought of giving him the potion¡¦ but why _that_?

----------

Irvine made a face at Moonbei in the cockpit, reading a book and sometimes reading aloud to him – as Raven and Van entered the hangar. Van spotted him fixing – or, rather, trying to fix – his Lightning Saix and called out to him.

¡°Good morning Irvine! And Sobo-san, of course,¡±

Thomas had taken to call her Sobo-san since he once saw how she did not wore her hair in braids, saying that she looked just like his grandmother when she was young. It was meant as a joke, but it stuck and she became infuriated whenever she heard other soldiers greeting her in that, saying ¡°What? Don¡¯t call me ¡®Grandmother¡¯! I¡¯m not that old yet!¡±. ...Still, it was a good fun, bowing mockingly solemn as they said ¡®good morning¡¯ or ¡®good afternoon, Sobo-san¡¯. 

As usual, Moonbei threw the book she was reading down at Van, aiming for his head, but he ducked, so it bounced up harmlessly on the ground. Irvine cringed. That was his favourite book and he hoped that the binding did not break.

¡°You little- Wait till I get my hands on you in dinnertime, Van!¡±

¡°Yeah, see you! There¡¯ll be some _papaya salad_ for desert!¡±

¡°What? Unfair! Why do you pick on me anyway? There¡¯s Captain O¡¯Connell, Major Hermann, Thomas, Colonel Schubaltz¡¦¡±

¡°THAT IS NOT THE POINT!! This is it, you¡¯re going down!¡±

¡°EEK!! HELP ME SOMEONE!¡±

Raven was watching all this with his arms folded and a bored expression on his face. But as Moonbei stood up with a murderous expression – she probably had a bad morning start –, ready to strangle Van, he cleared his throat very loudly. At once they noticed the gray-haired pilot¡¯s presence, and Moonbei glared at him, her hands only inches from Van¡¯s neck.

¡°What¡¯s the matter, Raven? Your throat hurts? Shall I fetch you some water?¡±

¡°That would be very nice, thank you.¡±

Raven replied in return to Moonbei¡¯s sarcastic remark, and smirked. He was about to say something when Van¡¯s grateful expression caught his eyes, and he just sat down on the floor with a haughty ¡®hhmp¡¯.

¡°Go ahead and kill him, I don¡¯t mind. Although the fun would be a little spoiled without me taking part, but nevertheless it would be quite interesting to see the famous Van Flyheight getting killed by a mere girl with her bare hands. Besides,¡±

He added as an afterthought, seeing their, but especially Van¡¯s, expression.

¡°If he dies, then I might be able to get away from this place— go ahead, kill him.¡±

Irvine tried to hide the twitching in the corner of his mouth, watching the three¡¯s antics. Moonbei would _surely_ be pleased to be addressed as a ¡®mere girl¡¯ after the months of the ¡®Grandmother¡¯ thing, and the look on Van¡¯s face was _priceless_. 

And Raven...he hasn¡¯t changed much. He was still the old Raven, being his usual ¡®arrogant and sadistic bastard¡¯ self. But still, he and Van were barely nineteen. By now, Moonbei¡¯s anger had cooled down considerably, and she let go of Van. Raven mock-pouted.

¡°What? You¡¯re not going to kill him?¡±

¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡±

Raven suddenly jerked his head round, looking around the hangar. He seemed to be searching for something, or listening.

¡°What is it?¡±

¡°Where¡¯s my Genobreaker? Surely you didn¡¯t leave it out in the desert? ...Think before you answer, Flyheight. I am perfectly capable of killing you right here, right now.¡±

¡°Well...¡±

¡°It¡¯s in the special hangar. The far left.¡±

Irvine answered for Van, and Raven stood up. And without giving a glance to Moonbei or Irvine, walked towards the special hangar with Van trailing behind him. Irvine chuckled silently to himself, looking at the two boys as they walked away. Somehow, he didn¡¯t mind Raven staying with them at all.

----------

Shadow practically _pounced _on Raven as the gray-haired pilot entered the special hangar, and Raven, his lips secretly quirking up to a genuine smile, reached up to stroke the organoid¡¯s head while it happily nuzzled him, glad to be near its master again. Van stared, fascinated, at Raven and Shadow who seemed to be closer than Zeek and himself. _Of course, you moron. They saved each other¡¯s necks for countless times. No wonder they¡¯re so close._

Then Raven finally noticed all the mechanics hovering around the Genobreaker. _His_ Genobreaker.

For the moment, all he could see was red and the word ¡®kill¡¯. He quickly marched up to the nearest mechanic and practically threw him out of the hangar, snarling.

_¡°Don¡¯t.go.near.my.Genobreaker.¡±_

The mechanics fluttered nervously around, looking at Raven and Shadow with fearful gaze. Raven gestured towards the entrance.

¡°Go. But leave all the tools. I¡¯ll be fixing it.¡±

As the last of them ran out of the hangar, Raven smirked at Van.

¡°Stupid cowards.¡±

..Van somehow had the feeling that Raven also included him in that comment, but he soon forgot about it as Dr. Di, Thomas and Irvine appeared.

¡°What was that?..Oh, it¡¯s you.¡±

¡°Yes, Schubaltz, it¡¯s just little old me.¡±

¡°Raven, don¡¯t be such a sarcastic bastard. Why did you chase them out?¡±

¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡±

Raven smirked, and continued with the smirk still on his face, but with much more serious and dangerous tone.

¡°It¡¯s my zoid, you understand? MY zoid, and although I have to stay here for god-knows-how-long, I don¡¯t trust you anymore than I do Ryss.¡±

He casually nodded to them, and snapped his fingers at both Shadow and Van.

¡°Come along, Shadow....and Flyheight. I think I¡¯ll just _stroll_ around the base a bit. Oh,¡±

He suddenly stopped, and glanced back at the dumbstruck men behind him.

¡°Could you please _not_ touch my Genobreaker? I don¡¯t want to amputate any of your limbs...it gets a little _too _messy.¡±

-----

**Firemoon¡¯s notes:**

Firemoon: Yay! Another chapter done!

Raven: Wow. Interesting. *bored expression*

Van: Unfair! Why do I have to follow Raven around like a dog?

Raven/Firemoon: *smirk smirk* because you are.

Van: *whimpers like a dog* So unfair...

**Thanks to:**

Sanity-Stealing-Garden-Gnome – Thanx really for the reviews you¡¯ve given me in the other stories too. It really helped me a lot, reading those reviews. *bows*

Luine – Ouch, sorry about that. *grimaces* Hope it¡¯s better now.. *thumbs up* I myself haven¡¯t had, er, the encounter with them before, so I, unfortunately, can¡¯t give anything to help you with it. Well, I accept flames because I don¡¯t mind them...?? Er, anyway, Thnx for the great review and compliment!

Naomi Hunter – Thnx too for the review. I think I¡¯m starting to ruin this fic though... 0_o;;

Gardenlaw – It doesn¡¯t work.. Sorry.. I¡¯ve tried everything within my power to get it right.. but it doesn¡¯t work. I¡¯m feeling so depressed now. *whimper* Thanks for the help and the review anyway.

HadOwCat – It¡¯s good to know that you liked it. Hope you will always like it in the chapters to come [although I¡¯m sure that it¡¯ll go so bad that nobody will ever want to read this]

Again SORRY FOR THE WEIRD FORMAT. I will take all the blame. FLAMES accepted, REVIEWS welcome.


	3. Chapter 3: A bed, exercise, lots of fixi...

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter 1.

**WARNING:** As I said before, this is a SHOUNEN-AI aka BOY X BOY LOVE FIC. If you¡¯re against this, although I doubt it since this is a third chapter you¡¯re up to, just click the BACKWARDS ARROW on the TOP LEFT-HAND CORNER. That is all. You¡¯ve been WARNED.

**Love or Hate: What is the Difference?**

**Chapter 3: [A bed, exercise, lots of fixing, and an old oil-bottle]**

**By. Firemoon**

Raven opened his grayish purple eyes as the clock beside his side of the bed started ringing noisily. He groaned as the sunlight shined in his face, and blindly knocked the clock off its stand. 

The loud band and crash it made as it fell on Shadow who was sleeping by its master finally woke the gray-haired pilot up, and he sat up, looking fondly at Shadow who was now shaking his tail slightly like a faithful dog and growling.

¡°Hey Shadow.¡±

Raven said softly, patting the black organoid¡¯s snout, and it growled happily, if a bit too loud, because it woke his _roommate _up slightly before he fell asleep again. 

Raven was frozen with shock, staring down at his worst enemy¡¯s face, then relaxed ever-so-slightly as the last days¡¯ memories came back. So he just sat there and studied the dark-haired youth for a moment. The first thing he noticed was his hair, now free of its elastic band. He smirked as he saw how Van resembled a girl like that. _¡®But he looks pretty, doesn¡¯t he?¡¯ _A thought just popped into his head, and Raven blanched.

_Pretty? Van Flyheight? Where did _that _come from?_

Hastily he scooted away from the dark-haired boy, as far as he dared. He checked the clock on Van¡¯s side. 7 o¡¯clock. Raven sighed. Still good 2 hours late than his normal ¡®waking up¡¯ time. Maybe he was getting soft.

¡°Shadow, wake him up. Just hit him on the head or something. But don¡¯t hit him too hard. I need him to wake up, not unconscious.¡±

Shadow growled obediently, and deftly flicked his tail on Van¡¯s back like a whip. As soon as the metal connected with his back, Van yelped and opened his eyes, only to stare face-to-face with smirking Raven.

¡°Good job, Shadow.¡±

¡°Raven, WHAT are you doing?¡±

¡°Glad you enjoyed it. Now get up. I need to go for an exercise.¡±

Van climbed out of the bed, grumbling only stopped by the menacing flick of Shadow¡¯s tail. He seriously doubted why he let Raven push him around the day before. He was completely out of control now.

----------

Van collapsed onto the carpeted floor as they came back from the ¡®exercise¡¯. It was around 8 now, and he could do with some food. Raven didn¡¯t even look at him as if he was so pathetic that he can¡¯t waste his time on him. Van wheezed out between his attempt to draw breath.

¡°...Raven..can...we..go and...eat..now?¡±

Raven casually looked at him after he got changed into a pair of black pants and black button up shirt, and shrugged.

¡°Well...¡±

¡°Van!¡±

Irvine burst into the room with Thomas, and stopped and stared goggle-eyed at the dark-haired boy on the floor, looking exhausted. Raven nodded curtly at them as if nothing has happened.

¡°Good morning.¡±

¡°Van! What happened to you?¡±

¡°Agh...nothing. If you could call an hour-long hard-out torturous running as an ¡®exercise¡¯ a nothing. Ouch..¡±

Irvine stared at Van aghast. He was one heck of a tough soldier, and here he was, groaning after an hour of running with Raven. And the gray-haired boy didn¡¯t even seem tired. Raven smirked at him before patting the black organoid, who let out a half-growl, half-purr and snuggled up to its master.

¡°Well, Flyheight. Didn¡¯t you say that you wanted something to eat?¡±

----------

¡°Gods, I can¡¯t believe this! Why do _I_ have to help you, anyway?¡±

Raven glanced briefly at Van, and went back to carefully fixing the Genobreaker¡¯s left foreleg. He was standing on Shadow¡¯s back, which was holding the toolbox in its mouth.

¡°Because...¡±

There was a grunt and immediately clang of a spanner onto the floor, and Raven cursed, tapping Shadow with his foot to let him down. Raven was half-climbing onto the organoid again when Van gave a fake cough with a bang of his foot onto the metal casing of the black organoid, and the gray-haired boy looked up with a spanner in his hand, 

¡°Because, Flyheight, You obviously don¡¯t have anything to do and I have something that I could do to spend the time.¡±

¡°I have something too!¡±

¡°What?¡±

Van fumed silently, and kicked a bolt irritatingly. Raven¡¯s violet-indigo eyes held scorn and amusement, as he watched the dark-haired boy¡¯s antics, and finally he let out a satisfied chuckle.

¡°What are you laughing at?¡±

¡°You.¡±

¡°Argh! You are _insufferable_, Raven.¡±

¡°That¡¯s what they all say.¡±

Raven deftly climbed onto Shadow¡¯s back, and started to unscrew a bolt, in order to clean out and oil it. Van, who was sitting on the far back, near the tail of Shadow, could hear the gray-haired boy¡¯s sharp muttering.

¡°This is so _shit_. I cleaned the whole zoid out 2.. no, 3 days ago. And now _look_ at it. Ruined. This is outrageous.¡±

Van snorted quietly at Raven¡¯s angry muttering. He was always like that. Getting stressed over things. But he never knew that Raven would actually _care_ about his _zoid_. He always said that he hated them, and now..?

Van¡¯s train of thoughts was cut off as Raven reached down towards Shadow¡¯s mouth once more, chucking the spanner into the box and looking around, searching for the oiler. Van grinned mischievously as he spotted the bottle – blackened with much use and not much cleaning out – stuffed into the pocket on the side of the boy¡¯s pants.

¡°Raven...?¡±

¡°Shut _up_.¡±

¡°Oh well, if it suits you. I know where the oil bottle is.¡±

Raven wheeled around, and carefully assessed the dark-haired boy with his gray-purple eyes. He held out his hand, and Van blinked.

¡°Huh?¡±

¡°Give.¡±

Van smirked, thinking smugly. _Ha! Gotya._ Instead, he shook his head, giving the other boy a huge smug grin.

¡°......¡±

Without a word, Raven jumped up and tackled the boy, making them tumble off the organoid and onto the floor. Luckily, it was not more than a meter above ground and so the impact only made Van feel dizzy a little. Raven straddled him, and Van blinked a few times to get the stars out of his vision.

¡°Give me the damn oil bottle.¡±

Van decided that he would comply to Raven¡¯s wishes before he could receive some serious damage. Still not saying anything – a stubborn streak in his nature – he reached his hand up and trailed it down the gray-haired boy¡¯s thigh until he found the pocket. Raven first blinked as he felt the boy¡¯s hand, then quickly jumped off, leaving the boy on the floor slightly quizzical.

¡°It¡¯s there, you know. In your pocket.¡±

Raven turned away, motioning the organoid to scoop the dark-haired boy up so they would keep the limited distance, and trying desperately to hide the faint pink tint that had spread on his pale face.

----------

HA! DONE!!! I¡¯M DONE!! *screams with joy* Heh, the last bit is just a whim *grins coyly* I just wanted to have that bit in somewhere, and I¡¯m glad that I found some use for that particular scene *cackles* OK, now Thank You-s:

Sanity-Stealing-Garden-Gnome – Yay. Another chapter done. Thankies for the review! *grins again*

HAdOwCat – Glad you liked it. Gosh, I find it really strange that my fics could be funny.. 0_o I try, but it always came out as some crappy dry humor 0_0 Nah, It¡¯s just that I¡¯m such a pessimist sometimes, and Major Depression of mine kicked in yesterday, just as I was doing maths exam *sweatdrops*

Kitty-Yasha – Thnx for the review. I really appreciate it. I was kinda stressed over the _maths exam et all_...yeah. Well, I always thought that Raven would take proper care of his Zoid unlike Van –remember the first chapter?- and I sort of wanted to make it clear that the two were sort of different.

Luine – Hey! *waves* Thanks for the review...the last bit is sort of specially devised for you and the ¡®spicing up the fic¡¯. *grins* Really appreciate the review, and er, I just kinda thought that it would become too long if I put Van being stubborn..0_o

Cherrygal3 – Thanks for reviewing! *hug hug* *bashed with stones* Thanks again for the complement *dances around* Yes, I hurried up. I guess it¡¯s kind of short but.. oh well. 0_o

READ? LIKED IT? HATED IT? Then REVIEW!!

-Flames Accepted, Reviews Welcome.


	4. Chapter 4: A shower booth, shampoo, dini...

**Disclaimer: **See my bio or Chapter 1.

**WARNING:** Shounen-ai fic. Boy x boy love. Fie, fie if you are against this! *waves her hands dramatically*

---

**Love or Hate: What is the Difference?**

**By. Firemoon**

---

**Chapter 4: A shower booth, shampoo, dining manners and a fight**

Raven sat impatiently on a folding chair outside the shower booth, staring intently at himself reflected in the mirror in front of him. His hair looked rumpled, and he chose to ignore the pinkish tint on his face, turning his eyes to his hands instead. 

He unconsciously smiled bitterly as the still visible scars peeked at him through the black smudges of oil and dirt like evil, unblinking red slits of eyes. He shuddered as sudden, surprisingly vivid image of Prozen¡¯s face floated up in his mind, his scarlet eyes so like the scars.

However, he was snapped back into the realities by the dark-haired youth¡¯s voice from inside the shower booth, apparently singing something incoherent. Raven snorted quietly to himself, and raised his voice.

¡°Flyheight, _shut up_.¡±

There was a surprised squeak, and soon Raven was awarded richly with a yell and sound of something heavy falling down.

¡°Ouch...I forgot all about you..¡±

¡°You forgot? Gosh, I¡¯m hurt.¡±

After a brief struggle judging by the sound, Van emerged with a towel around his waist, looking slightly flustered and more than a little angry. Raven chuckled as Van threw daggers at him, wincing and putting his hand on his back as he turned slightly. Raven stood up, the scars now forgotten.

¡°It¡¯s my turn now. Turn around.¡±

¡°WHAT?¡±

Raven rolled his eyes.

¡°I need to use the shower.¡±

¡°Oh... Er, sorry.¡±

After a few minutes or so, Raven was inside the shower, relishing the hot water immensely. He closed his eyes, reaching for his usual shampoo of his on the shelf. It wasn¡¯t any problem for him, even if his eyes were closed, only that...

...the shelf was empty.

_¡°Shit!¡±_

Raven cursed loudly, and Van called out.

¡°What¡¯s wrong in there?¡±

Raven growled as he realized that the only thing available in there were some ridiculous papaya-scented ones. He sighed inwardly, turning the water off and tying the towel around his waist.

¡°What? Coming out already?¡±

¡°My things.¡±

Raven rummaged around his bag, and was relived to find the set of his lime-scented ones. Ignoring the now fully-dressed boy, he turned around again and into the shower.

---

¡°_Ahh_.. nice.¡±

Van blushed slightly at Raven¡¯s voice, and instead concentrated intently on drying his hair. Thinking about his hair led to the image of Raven just moments ago, gray hair dripping wet and clinging to his scalp and neck, and how his eyes looked...

He violently shook his head, shaking off droplets of water off in every direction as he did so. _Oh, come on,_ the little voice inside his head nagged. _You think he looks _nice_, don¡¯t you?_ Van snarled. It wasn¡¯t really on his must-do list to goggle at a _boy_, and _Raven_ at that!

¡°I _don¡¯t_.¡±

---

Raven was feeling slightly better by the time he came out again, drying his hair with a spare towel. However, his mood was a little spoiled by Van, who was avoiding his eyes. _What the heck has he done to behave like that all of a sudden?_ Raven narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

¡°Flyheight,¡±

¡°Huh? Er, what?¡±

_Hmm.. I smell something fishy._ Raven thought as the boy _still _avoided looking at him full in the face.

¡°You messed with my things, didn¡¯t you?¡±

¡°What? _Hell_ no!¡±

¡°Then why are you behaving like an idiot? Oh, sorry, you already _were _one.¡±

Van started to sweat under Raven¡¯s cold, calculating gaze. How in Zi is he expected to answer that question? _¡®Oh, Raven, I¡¯m sorry if I was behaving oddly. I suddenly realized that you look rather hot.¡¯ _...That was so completely out of the question_._ Out of the desperate measure, Van tried to take the subject off-course.

¡°What scent is that?¡±

Raven blinked. He certainly wasn¡¯t expecting that sort of answer out of the boy. However, he wasn¡¯t shocked enough to not to answer the question with something that would set the boy off.

¡°Something better that those ridiculous _papaya_ ones you¡¯re using.¡±

Bingo. He hit the mark. Raven smirked as Van¡¯s face turned red, and the dark-haired boy gave him the finger, afterwards muttering furiously.

Ah, the art of pissing off people. How satisfying.

---

¡°Some more, Van?¡±

¡°¡¯s alrigh¡¯ Mo¡¯bei. Irvin¡¯, d¡¯you want s¡¯m more?¡±

Raven rolled his eyes silently as he daintily popped another slice of steak into his mouth, casually glancing at the male trio on either side of him, simply _devouring_, no, _shoving_ their foods into their mouths like they had been starved for a month or two. He chose to ignore the womenfolk¡¯s stares too; he was used to that.

Fiona was carefully studying the two boy¡¯s faces, but focusing mostly on Raven¡¯s since the other dark-haired boy was half buried in food. She, and probably the other few women in the base too, found the infamous maverick¡¯s table manners rather fascinating. _Certainly_ not like others, she thought, turning towards Moonbei and rolling her eyes, gesturing silently at Irvine, Thomas and Van¡¯s general direction. 

¡°He certainly is sort of an unexpected, isn¡¯t he?¡±

¡°Yes.¡±

They both sneaked glances at the gray-haired teen, the latter not noticing the two women as he was rather busy ignoring the piggish males around him. Shadow was curled up around the chair he was sitting on as usual, occasionally whining in a very dog-like manner.

¡°Shadow, I told you. You _can¡¯t_ eat food. You don¡¯t have a digestive system.¡±

_~But Raven, it looks so _nice_.~_

Shadow whined again, and Raven frowned as the black organoid¡¯s thought _rammed _into his mind. Sighing, he flicked a piece of meat towards the black organoid who let out something like a squeal and immediately took immense pleasure in munching it.

¡°Oh, I thought that organoids couldn¡¯t eat.¡±

¡°They can¡¯t. Shadow¡¯s just a _tad bit_ crazy. He said that it looks _¡®nice¡¯_.¡±

...Somehow Raven managed to get a normal work like ¡®nice¡¯ sound like one of the worst profanities.

Fiona giggled a little at the tone of Raven¡¯s voice and how Shadow looked. Van looked up and saw Fiona giggling at something Raven said, and suddenly felt a pang inside his heart. _What was it?_ He asked Raven what they were talking about, and blushed at the unexpected answer.

¡°Er, Raven?¡±

¡°Hmm?¡±

Raven did not realize what he said; he was too engrossed in Shadow¡¯s joyful messages constantly popping up into his head to concentrate in anything else. Van blushed, and stood up to get himself a desert, momentarily forgetting the Bond. Fiona gasped, crying out, but it was a second too late.

As Van took his third step, Raven gasped, nearly chocking on his drink and dropping the glass. It shattered, and immediately brought the whole bar¡¯s attention. Van yelped as he too, felt the sharp pull of the Bond, and Raven, now looking much more pale and about to be sick, stumbled off his chair and grabbed the elbow of Van¡¯s uniform. 

Shadow started growling as he raised his head, wondering who hurt his master. As his eyes rested on Van whom his master was holding onto, Shadow concluded that Van had hurt his master. And someone who had hurt his master _must_ pay.

With a growl, Shadow jumped towards the dark-haired teen but Zeke also was aware of what happened. With a sharp metal clash, the two organoids slammed into each other, and started trying to bite each other¡¯s head off.

But the owners of the organoids weren¡¯t aware of the antics. Raven wheezed out between gasps, one hand still clutching Van¡¯s uniform, the other supporting himself by resting on his knee.

¡°You...fucking..bastard...¡±

¡°Ha...? Sorry.¡±

With a satisfying crunch, Raven¡¯s fist collided with Van¡¯s jaw, and both of them fell to the floor too like the organoids. Fiona gave a breathy scream, and Irvine and Moonbei stood up, calling for some cold water – they all believed that nothing was more affective to stop a fighting than a bucketful of cold water.

The two rolled about on the floor, regardless of anything but each other. There were punching, kneeing, kicking, and lots of yelling and cursing as well as very childish things such as pulling at each other¡¯s hair, both of them being long-haired. The organoids weren¡¯t any different, except for the hair-pulling and ear-deafening roars instead of cursing, but which meant all the same anyway.

¡°STOP!!¡±

All the commotion stopped as the people slowly backed away from the boys – there already was a very _wide_ circle around the organoids – and generally avoiding the stern Col. Karl L. Schubaltz¡¯s eyes. He fixed the two boys with a cold glare of his light green eyes, and Van stood up, grimacing. 

Both of them were in mess, but Raven – possibly – was a little bit less beaten up. Both of them had shiny black eyes, bruises, and sore spots. Van, in addition had a throbbing, aching jaw – the result of first starter of the fight – and his hair felt as if it were coming off from the roots. Raven had torn lip, messed up hair – it ached too – and gigantic bruise on his thigh where Van¡¯s knee had dug in as they rolled about.

Van gulped nervously but Raven turned around, giving Shadow a sharp telling-off. Nobody would actually dream of telling the giant menacing black organoid off, but Shadow whined and backed away, trying to win Raven¡¯s favor back by wagging his tail – and nearly knocking off about 10 people by doing so.

Karl nodded at the both of them, signaling them to follow before walking out the bar door.

---

¡°Explain yourselves.¡±

¡°Well, sir, you see... it was actually my fault.¡±

Raven blinked, looking at Van in surprise.

¡°No, Schubaltz. It was me. I hit him first.¡±

It was now both Karl and Van¡¯s turn to be surprised. Raven, defending _Van_? Raven winced as he put weight on the leg with bruised thigh, and shifted his weight to the other leg.

¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. It happened, and the punishment goes for both of you.¡±

¡°What punishment.. sir?¡±

Karl pondered, slowly twirling a pen between his fingers.

¡°Kitchen duty for.. a week. Luckily, it was empty for volunteers.¡±

¡°_Kitchen duty?_¡±

¡°Yes, Raven. Did you not hear me? Also, no infirmary for medication.¡±

¡°WHAT?¡±

This time, both the boys chorused, horrified. Karl just shrugged.

¡°It¡¯s your own faults that created this. I¡¯m not one to be blamed.¡±

¡°But-¡°

¡°No excuses, Flyheight. Now go on your business. The duty starts at 11 o¡¯clock every day until the end of next week.¡±

Something about the colonel¡¯s voice made them reluctantly turn away and head out the door. As the door clanged shut with a hiss, Karl then allowed a small grin to form on his face. _Raven, taking the blame instead of Van? Interesting._ He pulled down his hat a little more, and taking his phone, he punched the number onto the dial. _This will be very interesting._

--

_This is Firemoon, with my faithful no-fee typist Jenn aka Bobo reporting from my house aka jail. Finally! Chapter four of Love or Hate! *dances around, pulling Jenn along* *Jenn kicks her in the shin, resulting Firemoon to cry out painfully and collapse into her chair*_

_Ouch.. anyway, hope all of you enjoyed this chapter [sorry if it¡¯s too short – I haven¡¯t had time to work on this for a LONG time thanks to Ms Little my art teacher.]_

_Many Thanks to Kitty-Yasha and Cherrygal3 and to all who patiently waited for the 4th chappie to come out of my pathetic brain and muse. [Kraa: Hey! Who¡¯re you callin¡¯ pathetic!]_

_And to ¡®a reader¡¯, thanks for the advise, but you shouldn¡¯t have read my fic if you didn¡¯t like VanxRaven, begging your pardon. I CLEARLY stated that this will be SHOUNEN-AI as in VanxRaven in the summary of every chappie, and I seriously recommend either slow reading or glasses. _

_I do not mean to stop writing this story, and eventually [note the word, my friends] Van and Raven will be going out together and lots of kissing! *insane and manic laughter*_

_Anyway, Thnx again all!_

READ? THEN REVIEW! –Flames Accepted but should be with REASONS!

_Yours Faithfully Fanfictional,_

_Firemoon_


	5. Chapter 5: Kitchen duty, organoids, wash...

**Disclaimer: **See my Bio.

**WARNING:** This is a shounen-ai, that is, BOYXBOY LOVE fic. I repeat, this is a SHOUNEN-AI fic. All who does not like the idea must click the backwards arrow once [or multiple] to get out of this story at once. This will not be repeated during the story. This is the FINAL WARNING to ALL SLASH-HATERS.

---

**Love or Hate: What is the Difference?**

**By. Firemoon**

---

**Chapter 5: Kitchen duty, organoids, washing dishes, and fainting people**

Raven silently glared at Van, who couldn¡¯t stop laughing since Raven came out in his new ¡®kitchen duty wear¡¯. This was their first day of the duty week given by Col. Schubaltz, and they were none too eager to start the labour under the stern and bitchy cook¡¯s nose.

¡°You... you look like..¡±

Raven sighed, resisting the urge to bash his head – or better, Van¡¯s - on the nearby wall. He _shouldn¡¯t_ be getting worked up just because his arch-nemesis was laughing at him. That meant he was weak, and he _wasn¡¯t_ weak. Instead, he huffed indignantly and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Van was doubled over, now practically wheezing with laughter, and Raven suddenly couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He had to _do_ something before he cracked. He narrowed his eyes and growled out between gritted teeth.

¡°Shut.Up.¡±

Van looked up, panting with laughter. His eyes were tearing up. After several deep breaths, Raven began to think that he had _finally _calmed down. But he was wrong. 

Seriously wrong. 

Van, who seemed as sober and sane as a person could be on one moment, broke out into a wide grin and blurted out.

¡°You look like a girl!¡±

After this, the dark-haired boy burst out into another round of almost manic laughter. Raven resisted the urge to rub his temple, and instead glanced at his reflection in the mirror in the kitchen. He was...

Raven blinked. _Is this really me? _After a close inspection, Raven realized that it really _was_ him. His hair was secured by an elastic band – ¡°Hygienic reasons, boys.¡± said the Cook – and complete with a white bandanna, with a white apron around his waist, contrasting drastically with his usual black outfit. He looked... well, _domesticated_. 

Well, except for the black eye and split lip.

He snorted with suppressed laughter, and Van blinked in surprise, his own laughter slowly dying down. Raven was chuckling slightly now, shaking his head.

¡°See? You admit that you look funny.¡±

¡°...¡±

Raven snorted, but this time it was at Van.

¡°Yeah, sure.¡±

Van just huffed, giving the gray-haired youth the look, and finally Raven shrugged, sighing.

¡°Ok, ok.. I _do_ look funny. Satisfied?¡±

¡°Yup.¡±

Raven suddenly felt a queasy feeling inside his stomach as he saw Van grin widely, but soon forgot about it, ignoring. _Nah, it¡¯s probably just this crappy apron and bandanna._

---

¡°Where is Van? Or Raven, for that matter?¡±

Irvine looked up from his book – the favourite one – to see Moonbei and Fiona looking down at him.

¡°They¡¯re in the kitchen.¡±

Irvine muttered as he turned again to the closely printed words on the page. This was the umpteenth time he was reading this book, and he didn¡¯t seem to tire of the storyline. Moonbei blinked, obviously confused. Her eyes said that much.

¡°Why? Lunch¡¯s only in half an hour.¡±

¡°That¡¯s the reason, Moonbei. They¡¯re on kitchen duty because of the fight yesterday.¡±

Moonbei grinned at Fiona.

¡°Neat, eh? Let¡¯s go there and see them slaving over food wearing aprons.¡±

They all laughed at the mental image of Van – and moreover, Raven - wearing ridiculous aprons carrying highly piled food plates. But Irvine suddenly grimaced as he remembered something, shaking his head.

¡°No, we can¡¯t.¡±

¡°What? Why?¡±

¡°Schubaltz said that we shouldn¡¯t go and tease those guys or something since the news got out among the soldiers. I expect that includes _you _too.¡±

¡°Hmp! Not fair.¡±

Moonbei pouted, and sat on the part of the zoid that Irvine was leaning on, looking down at the still-reading Irvine and Fiona. Fiona looked over his shoulder at the book he was reading.

¡°Are you reading it again, Irvine?¡±

¡°You¡¯ve been reading it for ages. Can¡¯t you stop just for a moment?¡±

¡°Shut up, Moonbei. It¡¯s none of your business.¡±

But Irvine momentarily forgot how persistent the olive-skinned transporter could be. Moonbei jumped down from the zoid part and started nagging.

¡°I started reading it last time. Can I start again?¡±

¡°No.¡±

¡°C¡¯mon Irvine, you¡¯ve read it for ages.¡±

Irvine rolled his lavender eye, imitating her voice.

¡°_Last time you started reading this_, you nearly broke the binding. Do you know how hard it is to get these books?¡±

¡°Come on, I promise. Hmm? _Hmm?_¡±

Fiona walked away from the two, shaking her head. Her lips curved up to a grin as she looked back and saw the two bickering noisily. _Just like siblings, those two._

_...Just like Van and me._

Fiona turned and headed towards her quarters in the hope of finding Zeke, humming cheerfully. It was a nice day.

---

Meanwhile, the two youths were having the time of their lives.

Their organoids, who burst into the kitchen suddenly in the hope of getting a pat or two, were violently received by the cook who swung a huge ladle at them. Raven and Van tried to push them out of the kitchen and away from the now hysterical cook, but it ended up the organoids shattering several of the cook¡¯s favourite plates and finally forced out the door.

Raven rubbed the back of his head where the cook ¡®accidentally¡¯ hit him with the ladle, and knelt on the ground to pick up the pieces of the plates. Although he received a seemingly half-hearted apology, he suspected that the cook did it on purpose. 

Van exhaled heavily, rubbing his eye tiredly before he was thrusted a pair of rubber gloves and a scrubber by an assistant – the cook had retired to the inner kitchen to calm his nerves with a glass of wine.

¡°Clean the dishes while your _friend _there cleans that up.¡±

Van sighed, but put on the green rubber gloves anyway. He chose to ignore the term ¡®friend¡¯. The assistant was lucky that Raven didn¡¯t hear him, or else he would have been a smoldering mass inside the oven, nicely diced. Fortunately, the sink was right beside the shattered pieces – the plates having been balanced on the space beside the sink to be washed – so Van didn¡¯t have to receive stern looks from the assistant while he waited for Raven to finish.

Taking a deep breath in the hope of clearing his head, Van started washing the dirty dishes, which poured out endlessly from the bar as the lunch had started about half and hour ago. 

After only about a few minutes Van¡¯s hands were getting numb from the cold water, even with the thick green rubber gloves on, and the fumes from the bubbles were making him dizzy. Also his eyes were threatening to cross over after seeing about a couple of million rainbow-coated bubbles.

On the other hand, Raven was still kneeling on the cold tiled floor, occasionally glaring daggers into the inner part of the kitchen where the cook probably was. _Stupid organoid._ Raven thought angrily, violently chucking the pieces into the bin – his sort-of rebellion against the dictator-like cook –. The noise the china pieces made as they tumbled down into the metal bin was quite loud so at first Raven did not hear Van. When he finally heard it, he turned angrily around from the pieces.

¡°R...Raven?¡±

¡°What?¡±

Raven hesitated, feeling a little more than worried as he saw the dark-haired boy turn to look at him, his face pale.

¡°I think... I... I¡¯m..¡±

Van stopped, closing his eyes and shaking his head. Raven couldn¡¯t help getting more and more worried.

¡°I...feel.¡¦.dizzy..¡±

With that, he fell forward.

---

Raven moved just in time. He caught Van before he fit the floor, but he himself wasn¡¯t so lucky. 

With a loud ¡®Ouch¡¯ he fell onto the floor with unconscious Van on top of him, clattering off some several of the metal pots staked irregularly and haphazardly on the tiled floor beside the sink. Raven sighed, silently thanking for missing the sharp pieces of the plates, however narrowly.

The cook came out of the inner kitchen, along with a few curious assistants. As soon as he took note of the situation, he shouted, his face immediately becoming dark purple.

¡°Oy! What ¡®appned ¡®ere?¡±

¡°He fell dizzy.¡±

Raven grunted as he pushed Van off him and sat up, rubbing his head. He still saw a few stars from the impact, and the strange ringing in his ears didn¡¯t go away. He yelled at the assistants beside the cook, ignoring the fat aproned man..

¡°Don¡¯t just stand there, you morons! Get a chair and cool cloth or something.¡±

The nervous assistants darted inside, and after a few minutes came back out again with the things Raven requested. The gray-haired boy set Van onto a chair with some effort and slapped the boy slightly on both the cheeks in an attempt to wake him up.

¡°Flyheight! For Zi¡¯s sake, wake up, you pathetic weakling!¡±

When it didn¡¯t work – which Raven doubted in the first place that it would – he then proceeded to use some of the cold water that one of the assistants had brought.

¡°Get up, Flyheight! Don¡¯t be such a weak bastard!¡±

Finally, Van stirred and slowly opened his onyx eyes. For a fleeting moment the dark-haired youth thought he saw a thin but genuine smile on Raven¡¯s lips, and blinked. _Nah, I¡¯m just seeing things._ He thought again as Raven frowned, telling him off sharply with a barely hidden insults about him being a ¡®weakling¡¯ and ¡®soft-headed dumbass¡¯ et cetera et cetera.

¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll do the dishes.¡±

¡°You don¡¯t ha-¡°

¡°Don¡¯t.Say.Anything.Flyheight.¡±

Raven glared at him with his gray-purple eyes.

¡°I don¡¯t want you fainting again so I have to carry you back.¡±

Before Van could open his mouth, never mind saying anything, Raven was rather violently scrubbing away at the dishes, with bubbly water up to his elbows. Van just sat there, fiddling with the strands of threads from his apron as he stared at the back of Raven¡¯s head. After a short while, Van opened his mouth.

¡°Er.. Raven?¡±

¡°What?¡±

¡°...Thank you.¡±

Raven stopped scrubbing for a moment, turning his head to meet Van¡¯s dark black gaze. Their eyes met, and until Raven spoke again they continued to look into each other¡¯s eyes.

¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡±

---

_Sorry if you think this chappie is not much. The school term started again and I¡¯ve been suffering from the notorious Writer¡¯s Block. And on top of that my muses have abandoned me and this crappy cold and rainy weather and gone to a holiday into sunny and warm la-la land. Sorry again for the screwy format – I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong with this. Anyways, here¡¯s the Thanks._

_Thanks Kitty-Yasha – Well, here¡¯s the Chapter Five. Really thankies for all the support and the reviews._

_Thanks __Tanzina&Mikana__ – Er, hello. Haven¡¯t seen you around before. *grins cheerily* Anyways, thanks mighty for the review._

_Thanks Topazia – Really? What a coincidence.. Hope you didn¡¯t mind the screwy format. Thanks for the review! I really appreciate it._

_Thanks Wolf Riku – Hey thanks for reviewing AND adding me in your Favourite Authors page. *hugs Wolf Riku*_

_Thanks The Living Dead1 - ..Nice penname you¡¯ve got there.. *sweatdrops* Glad you liked it. Hope you liked this chappie too._

_Thanks Cherrygal3 – yeah, I love fluff too.. *squeals* but these days I¡¯m more into some angsty stuff and.. yeah, something dark. [i.e. Salva Beatos, The Raven] Anyway, but VanxRaven scenes *hint hint* won¡¯t come out until the very end.. [or will it?] So.. if you want VanxRaven scenes, you just have to wait! [Kraa: Is this some part of a diabolical scheme to keep the readers tied to this story?]_

_Thanks to sukitsune – Yeah, thanks mighty for reviewing & loving my story. *smiles*_

_Thanks to All The People Who Read This Story But Cannot Bother To Review_ _– I really, sincerely thank you, but still.. can¡¯t you give me just one line – at least! – to let me know that people liked my fic?_

_Thanks again to everybody! Your reviews are the only things that keep me going and sane._

READ? THEN REVIEW!! Flames accepted but only if accompanied with PROPER REASONS as to WHY you hate my fic.

_Yours Faithfully FanFictional,_

_Firemoon_


	6. Chapter 6: Matchmaking discussions, Zoid...

**Disclaimer:** This is DISclaimer. For details see my bio.

**Summary:** Well, basically Raven drank a potion that Rhyss made in ¡°her revenge¡± and now he¡¯s stuck with the person he hates the most, namely the great hero Van Flyheight, until Doctor Di can find a cure against the potion.

**Pairing:** Van x Raven

**Rating:** PG-13 for swearing for now.

**Category:** Romance/Humor

**WARNING:** Whew.. this is the sixth warning and I don¡¯t really think my readers need this warning anymore.. Anyway, here goes.. This is SHOUNEN-AI also known as SLASH, BOYxBOY LOVE fic. So if you¡¯re against this, you¡¯d better go away and read another story.

**---**

**Love or Hate: What is the Difference?**

**By. Firemoon**

---

**Chapter 6: Matchmaking discussions, Zoid piloting, and comlinks**

It was a nice day. Perfect for going outside, or read a book, or take a nap, or generally being lazy. And that¡¯s what most of the high-ranking officers – and most of the idle soldiers - were doing, being off-duty themselves.

..But one by the name of Colonel Karl Lichen Schubaltz of Imperial army wasn¡¯t a person that would do such a thing, even if he were on holiday or on leave, which was scarce in happening anyway.

Currently, he was sitting in his office, drinking a cold cup of lemonade – it was sunny, and his office did not have an air conditioner – and skimming through a report made by an officer concerning their latest mission completed. Even with the rising room temperature, he still kept his hat firmly on, and also in his full uniform. He looked up as a knock was heard, and finally sighed, setting the cup of lemonade back down onto the desk.

¡°Come in.¡±

Immediately the door opened with a high pitched whoosh, and a certain mercenary with shaggy brown hair poked his head in. He grinned at the blond-haired Colonel, his one lavender eye twinkling mischievously.

¡°So, _Colonel_, the reason why you called me up to this stuffy office of yours is...??¡±

Karl choose to ignore the sarcasm dripping from his title, and, after clearing his throat, answered the brown-haired man.

¡°It¡¯s about Van and.. Raven.¡±

¡°Aha, so you noticed too, eh?¡±

Irvine¡¯s grin widened as the colonel blinked, momentarily losing his ¡®I¡¯m high and mighty officer¡¯ look. Irvine came into the office, and closed the door noisily behind him. He looked around, frowning.

¡°Don¡¯t you have an air-conditioner here? It¡¯s _hot_.¡±

¡°Notice _what_?¡±

¡°Why, Van and Raven of course.¡±

Irvine dropped onto the remaining chair, still looking around rather disdainfully. Karl tiredly massaged his temple. The guy was annoying _the hell_ out of him. He glared at the mercenary.

¡°The reason I called you here was because I¡¯ve noticed some.. _things_ about Van and Raven.¡±

¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯ve been saying for the last 5 minutes.¡±

¡°I _know_, Irvine. Just give me a break here, ok?¡±

¡°Sure, colonel.¡±

¡°Call me Karl when I¡¯m off duty.¡±

Irvine grinned, leaning back onto the chair and supporting the back of his head with both his hands.

¡°So, what certain ¡®things¡¯ have you noticed then, Karl?¡±

¡°Well.. Raven actually has been helping out Van a lot lately, including the little incident in the kitchens.¡±

¡°What incident?¡±

¡°Well, let¡¯s see.. Oh yeah, Van was washing the dishes when he fainted due to the fumes from the cleaners they use – it IS enough to make you faint with dizziness, I assure you – and Raven apparently attempted and succeeded in reviving Van.¡±

¡°Ho-ho, interesting.. then what?¡±

¡°Then Raven washed the dishes himself.¡±

¡°What?¡±

Irvine¡¯s eye widened and bulged out, and he nearly toppled off balance as he frantically scrambled back to sitting straight in his chair. He spluttered in his hurry to get words out, and Karl watched behind his desk, more than slightly amused. Finally, Irvine gasped out.

¡°Raven? He _washed the dishes_? For _Van_?¡±

Karl was about to say something, but he was rudely interrupted by a certain younger brother who burst into his office without so much a warning. Thomas panted as he saluted sloppily, and he was grinning. Slightly.

¡°Hullo, big bro—Colonel, and Irvine.¡±

¡°Hey, Thomas.¡±

Thomas seated himself without any warning on Karl¡¯s desk, and he made an innocent face at his older brother.

¡°What? It¡¯s originally your fault to not have anymore chairs, and I absolutely refuse to sit on either of you¡¯s laps.¡±

¡°Haa.. sure, it¡¯s all my fault.¡±

Karl rubbed at his temples while Irvine grinned cheekily, slapping his own thigh at Thomas.

¡°Come on, me Tommy boy. Sit.¡±

¡°Stop that! It sounds more like to a dog.¡±

¡°Whatever.¡±

Irvine shrugged, grinning, and Thomas huffed, looking back to his brother.

¡°So, what were you two talking about?¡±

¡°Raven and Van.¡±

¡°Oh, thinking of those two, they are on zoid training system with Van¡¯s Blade Liger. Seemed like the Raven-guy was ditzing Van horribly.¡±

Meanwhile, the objects of their beginning discussion were kind of occupied that involved small-confined spaces and sweating.

---

¡°Gods, Flyheight. Can¡¯t you do it _faster_?¡±[1]

Raven groaned, holding his head with both his hands as the Blade Liger dodged sideways again, missing the protruding rock narrowly. Van growled while trying to both maneuver the zoid to the left _and _ignoring the gray-haired teen¡¯s insults and naggings. Raven rolled his gray-violet eyes, as he raised his head again.

¡°I see you haven¡¯t been doing this much since I turned _¡°good¡±_.¡±

¡°Shut.Up.¡±

Van wiped the sweat off his brow and leaned back as the familiar _ding_ sounded, signaling a 3-minute break. Both of them were sitting inside the Blade Liger, after Thomas insistently talked Van into practicing, and Raven had to reluctantly follow, and had not stopped grumbling since.

Raven glanced at the spiky hair poking out from the pilot¡¯s seat below him as the said pilot sighed, leaning back and wiping the sweat off his brow. It was so _fucking_ hot in this thing. They did not dare even to open the cockpit, in fear of being suffocated by the dry and hot desert wind. Raven blew a lock of sweat-soaked hair away from his eyes, and leaned back, sighing. Why couldn¡¯t they just go back to the base and take a nap? He couldn¡¯t sleep a wink last night because it was so _hot_, and his eyelids were starting to droop.

He scowled down at the dark haired youth, wondering for the millionth time how that scrawny little punk could have beaten him ¡°back then¡±. Van Flyheight wasn¡¯t that good with zoid piloting as he himself was, and his Zi-damned Zeek was the weakling of all the known organoids. And he stuck to that – this – screwed up blue zoid that¡¯s more than three decades old while Raven had one of the most powerful zoid in Planet Zi, the Geno Breaker.

¡°Hey, Flyheight?¡±

¡°Yeah?¡±

Van sighed; Raven probably want to brag about more things and put him down as usual. But what came out of Raven¡¯s mouth was quite unexpected and surprising.

¡°The last move you made was quite good. I¡¯m actually impressed.¡±

¡°Wha?¡±

_Shit! _Raven mentally smacked himself; no, that was an understatement. He stabbed, strangled, and _beat himself to death_ mentally. _How stupid am I to let Flyheight hear that? _Raven smirked down at the shocked face of his arch-rival, his cold and distant mask already in place.

¡°But other than that, I¡¯m surprised that you are even in the army. From what I have seen, you should have been turning into a...¡±  
  


He searched for a word; nothing came to mind. Van narrowed his eyes at the insult. He should have seen this coming. When Raven complimented him about his piloting, he had actually felt _happy_. Van sighed; obviously, it wasn¡¯t meant to be.

¡°Turning into a _what_?¡±

Raven¡¯s sadistic grin was the answer enough, and Van felt slightly panicky, as well as an unexplained flutter deep within his heart as the gray haired mercenary leaned down, his face mere inches from his own. Van blinked rather owlishly, and the mercenary cocked his head a little to the side, his deep violet eyes never leaving Van¡¯s onyx pair.

_His lips are so close.._ Van thought, almost incoherently. _So close.._ Then Raven leaned down further, and—

--and pressed the little reddish purple button on the control panel directly behind Van. Some of Raven¡¯s gray tresses brushed across his face, and Van blinked once more. _Hmm, _he thought, blinking rapidly to clear out his head which felt strangely fuzzy. _What was that little button for..?? _Then, everything fell into place.

¡°Oi!¡± [2]

Van quickly pressed another button on the control panel that immediately stopped his precious controls from getting to the ¡°evil¡± hands of Raven, and the taller teen growled deep within his throat, his violet eyes narrowing.

¡°Now what in Zi was that for?¡±

¡°Well you tried to take control of my Blade Liger!¡±

¡°I was just trying in ou!¡±

¡°Was not!¡±

¡°Was too!¡±

¡°Was not!¡±

¡°Was too!¡±

¡°Was not!¡±

¡°Was too—gotit!¡±

Raven jumped up from his seat and dove for the purple button again, smashing Van flat against the side of the seat. The gray haired boy pressed the button, laughing triumphantly. Van quickly recovered, and almost immediately he grabbed onto Raven¡¯s shoulders, smashing his face up against the bottom of the seat as the dark haired teen got back the control. Raven growled angrily as he grabbed one of Van¡¯s knees, pushing down on it as he struggled to get back up. Overall, they were soon in a rather.. _promising_ positions, and anyone who saw them in their current position would have thought that they were engaged in some, um, sexual activities. [3]

The problem was, that someone was Thomas.

With a high beep, Thomas¡¯s head flickered into the comlink and the tawny haired male started immediately, his voice grave.

¡°Van? This is Thomas. Return at once to the base. A powerful sand storm is co—¡±

The tawny haired lieutenant¡¯s voice trailed off, and his eyes grew wide and his face tomato red as he gaped at the two males _tangled up_ - for lack of better explanation – in the small, confined area of the Blade Liger¡¯s cockpit. Van and Raven stopped their struggling and wriggling about, and they too, stared dumbly at Thomas. He stuttered, blushing still furiously until it was the colour even redder than the Genobreaker, and hurriedly averted his eyes from the screen, staring at his feet instead.

¡°Ah.. um.. sorry for interrupting.. Er.. yeah.. just return quickly.. when you¡¯re done.. ok? Then.. well, um.. ok.¡±

With another beep, the line went dead.

Raven stared at the place where the comlink screen was a few seconds before, and he stared down—down—

-- right into Van¡¯s crotch.

At the same time, Van suddenly realized that his face was mere _inches_ away from Raven¡¯s ass, with his arms around Raven¡¯s waist. He also realized that he was nearly lying flat. They quickly pushed away from each other, avoiding looking at each other¡¯s faces. Both of them were blushing furiously, even Raven.

The gray haired boy leaned back in his seat at the back, trying to ignore the red tint in his own cheeks and a strange feeling inside his heart. He cracked an eye open and called out monotonously to Van.

¡°You heard the younger Schubaltz, Flyheight. Let¡¯s go back.¡±

¡°..Sure.¡±

They did not say anything the whole time back.

---

As soon as the comlink was disconnected, Karl turned his light green gaze back to Irvine, who was grinning madly. The blond colonel simply raised one of his golden eyebrows questioningly at the brown haired male, and Irvine chortled as he answered, wiping a tear off his eye.

¡°That, that _looks_ on their faces then Thomas came up on the screen, was _priceless_.¡±

Karl shrugged, a grin slowly forcing its way to the colonel¡¯s lips.

¡°Well, it _was_ certainly unexpected.¡±

With that, the two men cracked up laughing raucously, startling Thomas who was still flustered while putting away the equipments necessary for projecting the comlink onto larger screen. He huffed.

¡°Guys—¡±

¡°Did—did you see the look on Raven¡¯s face? He—he looked like—¡±

Irvine burst out into another fit of laughter, and Karl replied, his gloved fist banging on the table as he shook with laughter, gasping for breath.

¡°They looked as if they were caught snogging!¡±

¡°More like having sex, I think!¡±

Thomas flushed still redder at the two¡¯s remarks, and after glaring at his brother and the mercenary, he finally hmph-ed and left the room to check up on BEEK.

---__

_[1]- Whoa, what did you think it was? *wink wink/nudge nudge*_

_[2]- *lol* I¡¯ve always wanted Van to say that! *lol*_

_[3] – Hm, maybe I could draw a fanart of this.. *perverted grin*_

_This is Firemoon reporting from months of Writer¡¯s Block. *salutes* I am sincerely thankful to all the reviewers who supported me throughout the whole affair of the Writer¡¯s Block, and I LOVE YA ALL! *hug/glomps* *bashed* Oh for Anubis¡¯ sake, Thomas came out HORRIBLY OOC. Just kill me, will you? *hands an axe/gun/knife/whatever* _

_I¡¯ve drawn and posted a fanart to the third chapter/fourth chapter of this fic, with chibi-ish Van and Raven each adorned with a black eye and thinking ¡°Bagayarou!¡± [it¡¯s something along the lines of ¡°stupid bastard¡± or something..] Anyway, if you want to see this, along with some other Raven pictures, go and see my bio. There are links there to my stuff. Enjoy! Oh, and I was busily typing up this chapter when I had a slight typo and got ¡°Blade¡± from ¡°Blade Liger¡± into ¡°Bald¡±! *lol* *cackles/chocks/dies*_

_Thanks to: **Infiny/Mirha** – Thank you! *hugs*, **Tanzina&Mikana** – I love you too! *glomps/bashed* Yeah, Raven¡¯s so sweet.. *drools*, **darkleena** – Thanks for the reviews!, **TLD (aka Mirai)** – Thank you! Yes, and I wrote more. *grins*, **T.K. Kaiba** – Well, they will get together at the END of the fic.. so not now. *grins sheepishly* But they WILL get together.. eventually.., **Cherrygal3** – Um.. here¡¯s some RavenxVan? *drools/glomps both R and V* **Luine** – Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou so MUCH for the review! Love ya! *glomps* **hAdOwCat** – Thanks a bunch for the reviews! Thanks a lot! *hugs* **abe-abe** – Thanks! **katze** – Heh, Katze was my penname back in another site.. *grins* Anyway, thanks for the helpful comments and things. And as I said, kissing bit is gonna come out at the end, so sit tight for that! **Luna** – Thanks for the review! *glomps* **Get the next Chappie done ASAP!!!** – Yeah.. thanks! *hugs* **AibouEnjeruAibou** – Wow.. 0_o Thanks for the compliment.. I don¡¯t know what to say.. *sniff/cries* THANK YOU! LOVE YA! *hugs* **Distant Stars **– Yeah.. thanks a lot. Update your fic soon! Wanna see more of it! **Time¡¯s mortal enemy** – Wow. Good timing. Just before I was about to update.. Thanks a lot for the review, compliment and all!_

_MERRY [LATE] CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!_

_Yours Faithfully Fanfictional,_

_Firemoon_

_[REVIEWS PLEASE! AS MY CHRISTMAS PRESSIE! PWEESE? *puppy dog eyes* JUST PRESS THE PURPLE BOTTON!]___


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